Eris was confused for a moment before asking:
"Huh… like, leave the Kingdom for a few days?"
Rygar shook his head.
"Definitely not just a few days. We're going to explore one of the Three Great Labyrinths. The Dragon God's Hole."
The group's reaction was a mix of shock and seriousness. With the exception of Eris, who broke into a wide grin immediately.
Rygar had wanted to explore that labyrinth for a long time, mainly because the last component needed for the Divine level of the Sköllvindr Armor was on the final floor.
And over these last few years, it wasn't only his friends and subordinates who had grown stronger.
In truth, Rygar had gone through a much more complete overall growth.
First of all, he completed the second model of Sköllvindr — the Transcendent model. That alone represented a huge leap in power, especially in unpredictability.
He already possessed the most complicated component of all: the Gravity Sword, Kajakut.
There was also another material that was extremely difficult to obtain, which required him to visit the Inferno Labyrinth, on the Celestial Continent.
But with the strength he had at the time, it wasn't particularly difficult.
So, after only two years, he was able to create this new version of the armor.
But of course, the main factor behind his increase in strength hadn't been equipment.
The real reason was still Rygar's personal growth.
After all, he possessed every tool necessary to reach a new level.
He had the Future Guide, with instructions and clarification about the countless techniques he wanted to learn.
And after fighting with everything he had against the apex of the world — the Dragon God Orsted — he gained a new perception of mana.
Making the world itself bend to his power.
It was a level he had only ever seen Orsted reach.
Something that could only be achieved through an overwhelming mastery over oneself and one's own power.
For many years, Rygar devoted himself exclusively to reaching that threshold.
With Jino as his sparring partner, he gradually drew closer to that level — although it took a full four years.
Even so, it was an almost unattainable state, even for the greatest geniuses.
In any case, reaching that level allowed him to fight by unifying Magic and Touki into a single whole, naturally and completely.
His strength was now completely different from what it had been five years ago.
Still, the Divine level of the Armor would be something entirely distinct.
Rygar was certain that, while using it, he could even defeat Orsted.
It was an artifact that would completely surpass the Fighter God Armor, the Doomsday Sword, and perhaps even Orsted's Godsword.
Rygar continued:
"I'd been thinking about this for about a year… but there was the threat of the apostles attacking while I was away. Besides, I wasn't sure I could defeat the final boss of that labyrinth…"
He sighed. According to what was written in the Future Guide, that boss's strength is enough to threaten even the existence of the world.
The only thing stopping it at the moment is being trapped inside a Labyrinth — and even so, its influence spreads outside.
He continued, in a more serious tone:
"But lately, I feel like something is about to happen. I had the feeling that if I kept hesitating, I'd regret it."
Then he smiled at Aisha.
"I'd already decided to go about a month ago… but you reaching that level cleared up some of my concerns."
Aisha nodded.
"I see… well, we'll do our best while you're gone. By the way, why take Eris?"
"Just as a precaution," Rygar replied. "In case something goes wrong. Eris will be there to protect me in some unlikely scenario where I'm defeated."
Eris was strong enough not to hold him back in a battle, and she also wasn't a specialist in defensive fighting, so she was the best option overall.
Eris smiled, visibly proud.
Seeing that, Rygar decided not to complete his train of thought, and simply smiled back.
Everyone seemed to accept Rygar's plan more or less.
Nina then asked:
"Ah, and where's Ghislaine?"
Verdia replied:
"Actually, she went to pick up the kids. Apparently, they attacked the target without an adult's supervision…"
Nina furrowed her brows.
"Was Nel with them?"
Verdia nodded.
A dangerous aura began to emanate from Nina.
Then Eris asked, curious:
"And did they win?"
"Actually," Verdia replied, "they ended up defeating the real leader, not a fake. But yes, they defeated him easily."
Eris nodded, satisfied.
Rygar commented:
"Perseus and Aurora are so impatient… what kind of kid that age lives at that pace?"
Verdia stared at him with a look that clearly said: are you serious?
Rygar coughed.
"I'm an exception… I had special circumstances…"
Eris said:
"Actually, it's good that they're like that. Being your kids, they need to have at least some strength."
She looked at Lenna, who was now asleep, leaning against Leo.
Rygar watched his daughter thoughtfully.
"Yes… unless I can protect them from everything."
Aisha commented:
"Well, I don't think that'll ever be absolute. Unless you want to become immortal or something!"
Reida said, with her mouth full:
"Huh? Isn't that Rejuvenation Magic already a form of immortality?"
Rygar shook his head.
"Like I mentioned when I used it on you, it has a usage limit. But it should allow an ordinary human to live for hundreds of years… and someone of the Beast Race like me, maybe around seven hundred. Something like that."
He shrugged.
"Well, I don't know if I want to live much longer than that, anyway."
Reida agreed.
"Yeah, it'd be boring. I wanted to stay young because I wasted a good part of my youth on nonsense… but when you have a good life, death ends up being a blessing!"
Eris frowned.
"A blessing? How can dying be a blessing?"
Reida raised a chicken drumstick she was eating, as if it strengthened her argument.
"It turns out that if you're sure you'll never die, a lot of things lose their charm. This drumstick would lose its flavor. Living a passion would be duller. Flying on a dragon would become superfluous!"
She concluded:
"In short, knowing that everything has an end is what gives life its flavor!"
She looked at everyone.
"So, before you decide to live for thousands of years, think carefully about that. That's the wisdom of this old lady!"
And she went back to eating carefree.
Eris looked at Verdia.
"And you? What do you think, Verdia? You've already lived for hundreds of years."
Verdia tilted her head, thoughtful.
"Well, Reida isn't completely wrong. Many elves have little interest in living adventures precisely because of their long lives."
She smiled.
"I'm an exception… but if I knew I still had thousands of years ahead of me, I probably wouldn't push myself very hard to do anything."
She added:
"Actually, I don't intend to use that Rejuvenation Magic myself. I still have about five hundred years ahead of me, after all."
Jino said with conviction:
"If I can live another thousand years, then I definitely would!"
Nina looked thoughtful.
"I don't know… I think when I'm older I can think about that."
Rygar said:
"Well, no one said a thousand years… but I think living a few more centuries wouldn't be bad, right?"
He looked specifically at Eris and Aisha.
Eris agreed:
"Well, I don't know about living thousands of years… but I want to live as long as Rygar!"
Aisha leaned back in her chair.
"Yeah… I think it'd be cool. Who knows, maybe one day we'll find a way to travel to other worlds?"
She had a genuinely curious look.
Then Rufus said:
"Eh… if Rygar lives another hundred or two hundred years, what would he become, then?"
Everyone fell into deep contemplation.
Rygar, for his part, watched them, trying to understand why that was a relevant topic.
Until Verdia said, seriously:
"Maybe he'll become a world unto himself?"
"…what?"
The group kept talking and debating for hours, until, little by little, each of them went home — or to their respective missions and activities.
The world was in motion.
----
In the desert depths of the Begaritt Continent, a group of three people ran desperately across the vast white expanse.
It consisted of a leonine-looking man, a human, and a demon.
Night had already fallen, and that specific desert was known as the Ever-White Desert.
A strange place, where the sand turned completely white under the sunlight, and took on a dull, opaque gray tone during the night.
The problem was that the Ever-White was also famous for its lethality — both because of its monsters and because of the environment itself.
At night, even Rank C monsters would be frozen alive by the absurdly low temperatures.
The proof was right there.
The three were covered in injuries, with ice and snow accumulating on their fingers, clothes, and hair. The lion-man, in particular, had a deep laceration on his face, still bleeding, that had already begun to freeze.
They ran without stopping, panting.
"Hah… hah… hah…!" the human gasped. "We have no way out! Let's turn around and fight!"
The demon turned her head, shocked.
"Are you insane?!" she snapped. "Do you want to hurry our deaths?! I'd rather die frozen than impaled by a stinger!"
The instant she finished speaking, answering those words, a huge pincer burst out of the ground.
The attack came from below, violent and sudden.
The human and the demon managed to dodge by a hair.
But the lion-man, with his field of vision compromised by the wound on his face, didn't notice the threat in time.
The pincer closed around his body.
"AAAAAARGH!!!"
The horrible sound of bones being crushed echoed through the freezing desert, as a huge scorpion fully emerged from the sand.
Its carapace was red, thick, and chitinous.
"JARUL!" the demon shouted. "HANG ON!"
She drew her bow and prepared an arrow, ready to fire.
But before she could react, a stinger pierced the lion-man's chest.
Unable to move, Jarul died instantly.
"NOOOO!!" the human screamed.
Consumed by fury, he charged at the creature, attacking savagely.
The demon hesitated for a moment, considering running — but when she saw the lifeless body of her long-time friend thrown onto the sand, her decision changed.
She attacked as well.
The monster was a Naraje Scorpion, a Rank B creature, particularly dangerous in that desert.
But the two adventurers were not weak.
The human, wielding his greatsword, managed to strike the creature's vulnerable points.
With the demon's arrows providing precise support, they finally managed to kill the scorpion after an intense fight.
They avenged Jarul.
But the feeling of relief lasted only an instant.
The human turned his face to the side.
And froze.
More than ten Naraje Scorpions were watching them, slowly emerging from the gray sand.
Without saying a word to his companion, he made a decision.
He prepared to take his own life — and hers as well.
It would be a better death than being captured by those creatures, like their other mage friend had been days earlier.
That was when a roar cut through the icy air.
"RRRROOOOOOHHH!!!"
A red humanoid silhouette crossed the night sky, descending like a meteor.
It fell directly onto one of the scorpions, crushing it mercilessly.
The impact opened a crater in the frozen sand.
The demon woman finally turned, drawn by the thunderous crash.
What the two saw next would be engraved in their minds forever.
A massive Red Ogre advanced through the desert, slaughtering scorpions one after another.
It crushed the creatures indiscriminately, unconcerned with their numbers or size.
A true monster — destroying monsters the size of houses with its bare hands.
Before the two could recover or decide what to do, a voice sounded behind them.
"Hey! What's up, guys!"
Both of them turned instantly, even wounded, taking a defensive stance.
There were two men.
One of them was an adventurer with a face reminiscent of a monkey, wearing thick cold-weather clothes and showing a friendly smile.
The other… was very familiar.
"Kensai?!" the human exclaimed, incredulous.
"Hahahaha!" the man laughed. "So you know me, guys!"
Kensai was none other than the Treasure Mage of Begaritt.
As one of the only three King-level mages residing on the vast Begaritt Continent, he had considerable fame.
He was a very short human — so short that many believed he was a half-breed.
On top of that, he had a striking trait: he was extremely hairy.
A long beard, long hair, and his whole body covered in hair. His blond hair gave him an even more distinct appearance.
The man with the monkey face cast a glance at the lifeless body of the lion-man.
"Tsk, tsk…" he clicked his tongue. "Such a skilled adventurer dying like that… that's not right. What was his name?"
The two adventurers noticed something strange.
None of the newcomers seemed even slightly worried about the Red Ogre behind them, which kept on slaughtering scorpions.
That could only mean they were allies.
The demon woman spoke, cautious, but recognizing Kensai.
"His name was Jarul… our companion."
The monkey-faced man looked at Kensai.
"Well… let's do something about that, right?"
"Kuahahahaha!" Kensai guffawed. "Of course! Don't worry, guys!"
He approached Jarul's body and took an object from his pocket.
It looked like a purple gemstone — but it shone too brightly to be just an ordinary gem.
Kensai crushed it over the lion-man's body.
And then…
"AAAAARGH! MY HEART! IT WAS PIERCED! I'M DYING!"
Jarul sprang up in a panic, clutching his chest.
But there was no wound at all. Not even old scars remained.
He looked around, completely confused.
He saw Kensai smiling, and he saw his friends in shock.
His body was healthier than ever.
The human and the demon stood frozen, unable to say anything.
At that moment, a stronger wind blew through the freezing desert, lowering a nearby dune.
What was revealed behind the two men was even more shocking.
In the middle of the Ever-White Desert, there was an oasis.
A huge, vast, green oasis.
Kensai laughed loudly.
"Kuahahaha! We recently discovered a new oasis around here, guys!"
He pointed toward the crystalline water.
"It turns out that at the center of this oasis there's a huge labyrinth! And, honestly, we're having trouble exploring it on our own."
Then he pointed to the remaining purple dust from the crushed stone.
"On the walls of that labyrinth there are hundreds… maybe even more… of these stones. I called them Resurrection Stones!"
He spread his arms.
"As you saw with your own eyes, they literally resurrect people!"
Kensai grinned widely.
"My good friends, if it's not too much trouble… I'd like you to spread this news for me. This is a blessing that should be shared with all the long-suffering people of this desert!"
Without waiting for an answer, both the monkey-faced man — who was watching the surroundings attentively — and the short mage began to walk away.
They headed toward the green oasis.
The three adventurers were left behind, completely stunned.
The human looked around.
Dozens of Naraje Scorpion carcasses were scattered across the desert, torn apart and crushed.
No sign of the Red Ogre.
The three exchanged looks, silently asking one another whether all of it was just a dream.
But it wasn't.
That was the beginning of an event that would shake the Desert Continent to its core.
-----
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